Earlier this month, we went to the beach for the first time with Reid. (As always, click on any of these photos, even the bizarre one below on the right, to see a much larger version.) In the crystal blue waters and sugar white sands of Florida's Emerald Coast, we had a great week of Reid firsts. As you can see from the center photo above, we probably overdid things on the Reid skin protection matter, but he made it clear he wouldn't wear his strange little ducky coverup. He did consent to wearing a hat much of the time, though he did toss that from time to time.

Reid tried the sand, despite the best efforts of both K and I. Reid's grandparents were great fun to have around, taking walks with Reid on the beach, and bringing walkie talkies, which quickly became great toys.

Inside the beach house, Reid worked on perfecting his walking, funny faces and posing with Grandpa. Reid discovered a hammer which hurt when he hit us with it, and he received a set of blocks, which quickly became the best thing to drag around because it made a tremendous noise.

Some things just don't change, even on vacation. One of them is Reid's sleep schedule, which, though now much more consistent, still means he awakens -- weekend or weekday, vacation or workweek -- around 6 in the morning. Many beautiful vacation imaginings might feature curling up with a cup of coffee as the ocean and beach slowly come to life. We didn't notice those things coming to life because Reid was already busy with his non-functional remote control (thanks Grannie and Grandpa), his stacker and other toys. I'm sure the sun's slow rousing of the beach was beautiful. We'll see it sometime

We took advantage of the genteel setting for a family portrait. Actually, as is the case with many of the best pictures of Reid, we took about a hundred portraits to get this one (and my smile could be a little more natural, honestly) but we're pleased with this one. Little Reid's grin makes the photo, in my opinion. The beach was a great time, and while we hope to go back every year, there will only ever be one first time for young Reid on the beach.